“No tree, no stockings, no presents.”
“Wow, so you’re really going to take it right down to the wire.”
“Looks like it. I’m just going to place a huge online order for my sister’s gifts.”
“You do know you work in a mall?”
“An overpriced mall.”
“Do you spend the day with family?”
“No, just me and Celeste. We don’t have a big family and the ones that we do claim live out of state. What about you?”
“I go home for Christmas. When I left Ottawa it was the one thing my mother requested, that I’d always come home so we could celebrate as a family.”
“Sounds nice.” I watched the snow-covered streets pass us by. Every year I’d countdown the days until Christmas, but not because I couldn’t wait to unwrap presents and indulge in spiked hot chocolate. I was counting down the days until all the fa, la, la, la, la was over. I hated the sappy commercials and talk of family traditions. It was less hate and more envy because the fictional family in the Folgers commercial got to spend the holidays with their son who’d moved thousands of miles away. The son that took great pains to surprise them on Christmas morning at the front door. And the mother who was awash in tears of joy at the return of her beloved son and her favorite brand of coffee.
I wanted my Folgers Christmas surprise. Yes, I had Celeste and I was grateful for her. But a two person Christmas didn’t really feel like Christmas at all. While I tried to make the day special for her, it was just mingled with so much pain. I’d prefer it if there were no sleigh bells ringing, no chestnuts roasting, and no dashing through the motherfucking snow.Was there an anti-Christmas Christmas club?Because if there were, I would be the president, treasurer, and secretary. Our motto would be, Ho, Ho, No.
“Do you and your sister have any holiday traditions?”
“No not really. I just try to get through the day without breaking into tears. Cakes and pies tend to help.”
Kris was silent for a long while, his hand flexing over the steering wheel. “You should come.”
“Come?”
“To Ottawa for Christmas. If you like dessert, my mom has you covered.”
I snorted a laugh. “I know right, I’ll just pack my things and hop a plane or do you fly via private jet?” I joked.
“We could fly first class, you, me, and Celeste.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Nope.”
“I can’t just fly to Canada. Work is so busy.” That was a lie. After the Christmas season, my job was far less demanding.
“They can do without you for a few days.”
“Kris, I’m not some influencer with ten million followers or a model who can jet set out of the country.”
“Do you have a passport?”
“Yes, but I also have responsibilities.”
“Yeah, and every last one of them will be waiting for you on the other side of this trip.”
He was right, I was making excuses. But it wasn’t just me to think about, I had to think of Celeste. She liked routine, but her routines were more like mile markers letting her know she was keeping a good pace. Breakfast at seven in the morning was a must, but whether breakfast was at our kitchen counter or Canada didn’t really matter.
Kris reached for my hand, giving it a soft squeeze. “You don’t have to decide now. Just think about it.”
Instead of continuing to object, I found myself agreeing. “Okay, I will think about it. Thank you for the invite.” After the ask, that was pretty much all I could focus on. Who invites someone to visit their hometown on the first date? And then there was his mother. How would he explain my presence to her?“Hi Mom this is Belen, the lady from work I’m fucking.”And what would my friends at the anti-Christmas Christmas club think?I would be stripped of my titles. You can’t be president when you’re downing eggnog and shaking jingle bells.
We returned to Kris’s apartment with forty-five minutes to spare before my hard stop at three o’clock. Kris wasted no time making use of our remaining moments together. If our early morning sex session was intimate and delicate, what he was doing to me now was the polar opposite. Straight smacking my ass, wrapping his massive hand around my neck while applying measured pressure, with an intense kinetic thrust that I somehow felt in my chest.
My body greedily received every dick stroke. When Kris abruptly pulled out, I was compelled to drop to my knees and suck his balls into my mouth. I pulled off his condom and teased him with my tongue. Kris’s hand grabbed my hair and guided me over his length. The depth and girth of his dick caused me to moan and flick at my clit. Coming with his dick in my mouth felt like a luxury.
